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We all have had many years of experience in learning in face-to-face settings in both classrooms and seminar rooms. Although the face-to-face learning environments are often complex and unpredictable, we are very familiar with them and have developed high levels of skill in working in these environments. We cannot assume, however, that the skills, strategies, and techniques that we so effectively use in face-to-face learning environments will also work well in online learning.

"The invention of the LMS (Learning Management System) was a mistake. And here I'm not going to make the same frustrated argument made numerous times before now that LMSs are limiting structures, that their interface and functionalities control how teachers teach online (although those things are true). The LMS was a mistake because it was premature. In a world that was just waking up to the Internet and the possibility of widely-networked culture, the LMS played to the lowest common denominator, creating a "classroom" that allowed learning -- or something like learning -- to happen behind tabs, in threaded discussions, and through automated quizzes. The LMS was not a creative decision, it was not pushing the capabilities of the Internet, it was settling for the least innovative classroom practice and repositioning that digitally. As a result classes taught within its structure generally land with a dull thud. No matter how creative and inspired the teacher or pedagogue behind the wheel, the LMS is no match for the wideness of the Internet. It was born a relic -- at its launch utterly irrelevant to its environment and its user." Very thought-provoking article on how digital pedagogy really differs from just "teaching online."

MERLOT is a free and open resource designed primarily for faculty and students of higher education. The MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT) is a peer-reviewed, open access, online publication addressing the scholarly use of multimedia resources in online education

The paper concludes that while there are some preliminary positives about online PLC's, educators' thinking about online PLC's has not moved beyond the scope of traditional PLC's. In other words, more time will be required to truly evaluate their impact, but in the meantime, blended traditional and online PLC's seem to offer the most promise.

Read a summary of the report or the full report at:

http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=368 This link is not working as I post this, so I need to check back later

"Project-Based Learning grabs hold of this idea and fosters deep learning and autonomy by using technology to help students engage in issues and questions relevant to their lives."

"With the advance of web 2.0 technologies, there emerged a wide range of educational tools that we can use with our students in and outside the classroom.Collaborative web tools is one example. Using such websites, teachers will be able to help in holding online and real-time discussions with their students, help them in their projects and assignments, guide their learning, do backchanneling, and synchronously moderate discussion threads and many more." The focus here is on tools for collaboration. Many are new and interesting, such as virtual whiteboards, search team to do online searches together, browse websites together, create online projects collaboratively, create your own chatroom, etc. Some of these will be gone quickly, but they all appear quite useful. About 30 in the list.

The Best of Online Learning: Free Video Lectures

Kubbu is an e-learning tool designed to facilitate teachers' work and enhance the learning process

Over 1,000 recordings to learn English (and other languages) with accompanying exercises, downloadable audio, etc. R. Stannard calls it one of the most useful language learning sites online: http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/elllo/index.html.

" HomeUKEdMagUKEdMag: Importance of a PLN by @ponderingDan UKEdMag: Importance of a PLN by @ponderingDan 29th July 2018 UKEdChat Editorial UKEdMag Importance of a PLN - This article originally appeared in Issue 49 of the UKEd Magazine. Click here to view. When you have a specific interest, it can be difficult to learn more about it from people in your immediate circle of influence. Teaching is broad and we all have that one area we love just a little more than the others. This is why I sought out to understand more about Professional Learning Networks (PLN) and their value to teachers. I am often trying to persuade my peers to get online so they can reap the benefits that I am."

Google has created a multi-week free online course this summer (2011) as a kind of experiment in mass learning. You can read the discussions, view the videos, and use the resources, incluidng a Diigo group, asynchronously, so hop on board!

Learning2gether is a project of Vance Stevens and the Webheads. Vance regularly recruits experts and tech-using teachers to offer live webinars weekly. Links to the full schedule and archive of over 300 hours of recordings from past events may be found a this Wordpress blog.

PurposeGames.com is host to educational quiz and trivia games created by its members. In just a few minutes, you can create your very own game to share with your friends!. Play games and tournaments to compete against your friends, co-workers, and classmates! Become the reigning champion of your community! The easiest way to learn something is to have fun while doing it! Geography, Science, and Languages, any subject is easier and more fun to learn by playing a quiz game!

"Do you Diigo? To be honest, I signed up but never used the online social-bookmarking tool. Fortunately, TESOL's Computer-assisted Language Learning (CALL) Interest Section has been busy bookmarking some great online resources. Dr. Elizabeth Hanson-Smith shared the Diigo CALL IS Virtual Software List on the TESOL CALL Community: http://www.diigo.com/user/call_is_vsl. This list contains tons of resources on various teaching topics! However, this post focuses only on the teacher-training videos." A nice review and selection by Sandra Rogers for the TESOL Blog.

"Big lists of free online courses, Web tools, learning games, and other resources for lifelong learners are relatively easy to find, but sites with a serious focus on helping people along the journey of self-education are fewer and farther between. Here are five you may want to bookmark or add to your feed reader." Thanks to Webhead, Buthaina al-Othman

Cleverly presented in a slideshow at the head of R. Byrne's blog. "On iPadApps4School.com you can sort app reviews according to grade level category. Simply click on the grade level category in the sidebar to find apps appropriate for the age of your students. You can find elementary school apps here, middle school apps here, and high school apps here. I also have a category for pre-K students. If you want to be notified when a new app is reviewed, you can subsc" Take a look at this great resource for mobile learning for a wide variety of levels/grades/ages.

This is a nice update on where to find resources for student projects. Mike Alfred's students use creative projects to show what they have learned, making all types of video from animations to full movies.

Poetry Forge has online (Flash) tools for generating instant poetry, as well as a downloadable version of the tools to use on the desktop. It's really fun to add some words to a list and then have the poetry-maker pop up your new poem. Students can learn a lot about metaphorical language here.